Rangers supporters who have made their way to Istanbul for today's Europa League tie against Fenerbahce have been soaking up a bit of local culture...

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Before moving on from Manchester United's tie at Real Sociedad, we have a line from Imanol Alguacil, manager of their opponents, who says people calling his side favourites "don't know anything about football".

"For me, Manchester United are favourites to win the Europa League. We need to acknowledge who we are up against," said Alguacil, whose side are ninth in La Liga.

"It's true that in the Premier League they are not getting the results they want, but they are a very good team with an excellent manager."

Stick with us for more on Chelsea later, before tonight's Conference League last-16 tie against Copenhagen.

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"Thursday is another chance to show our worth in a European competition," said Manchester United defender Matthijs De Ligt, previewing the first leg of their last-16 tie against Real Sociedad.

"Until now we haven't lost a game so hopefully we can keep it that way and get a good result.

"If you win the tournament, you go into the Champions League [next season], but that is not our main goal at the moment. Our main goal is to win the game on Thursday and get a good result.

"We're watching it step by step, game after game.

"The Europa League is not a tournament where you can win it without effort. We know we have to fight and put everything on the line to win the game. That's our first concern. We'll be ready and hopefully we can get a good result."

• Real Sociedad have won just one of their previous six European encounters against Manchester United (D2 L3), with that win coming in the group stage of this competition at Old Trafford in September 2022. They won that game 1-0 courtesy of a Brais Méndez penalty, which remains their only goal against them.
• Real Sociedad have never beaten an English side on home soil in Europe (D1 L3), failing to score in each of the last three matches (all against Manchester United). They are, however, one of six sides to score in 100% of their Europa League games this season (10/10), with United also doing so (8/8).
• Manchester United have lost just one of their last eight away games against Spanish opposition in Europe (W5 D2), however, that defeat did come in their most recent such encounter, losing 3-0 at Sevilla in the second leg of the 2022-23 Europa League quarter-final.
• United are averaging 18.8 shots per game in the Europa League this season, the most of any side still in the competition and their best ratio in a European season on record (since 2003-04). They also have the highest average sequence time (12.9 seconds), passes per sequence (4.5) and possession (61.2%).

Samuel Luckhurst, chief Manchester United writer for the Manchester Evening News, believes performances are a must for this United side in the latter stages of the season if they are to not be remembered as "the worst Manchester United team in 51 years".

United take on La Liga side Real Sociedad this evening in the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie and Luckhurst says the players must still believe they can be part of a successful European campaign.

Gary: Lewis-Skelly should be nowhere near the England squad. Escaped another blatant sending off other night which would have been his third red card in a month. You can’t rely on a player who clearly has such a big problem with discipline.

Manchester United

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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim on the importance of winning the Europa League: "It's not the crucial thing for the future of the club, but I understand that it would make a massive difference in our season, especially because we are out of the cups and in a bad position in the league. It could change a lot of things, even the way they see the coach, so I know there is massive pressure.

"Manchester United can call all of the best players, even without the Champions League in the future. We have to change a lot of things and we're trying to do that.

"There are more important things than winning cups at this moment, that is my feeling, but I understand that winning the Europa League can change everything for us in the next season."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United have two wins from their last six games in all competitions, both coming against teams in the bottom three of the Premier League - a 2-1 victory over Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup and a 3-2 victory over Ipswich in the league.

United's last victory away from home came back on 30 January - a 2-0 win against FCSB in the league phase of the Europa League.

That, incidentally, was also the last time that the side kept a clean-sheet in any competition.

Conor McNamara
BBC Radio 5 Live Commentator in San Sebastian

Things are very tranquil here in beautiful San Sebastian in Northern Spain.

This all feels far from the pressure cooker of Old Trafford and Sunday’s FA Cup defeat at home to Fulham.

Winning the Europa League is now Manchester United’s only chance of a trophy, as well as access to the important income stream of European Football next season.

The stadium here very much has the feel of an Iberian venue; you’d imagine that Ruben Amorim will feel very much at home in these surroundings.

Being back this close to his native Portugal brings into focus Amorim’s 'system of play', which brought him such success and admiration in Portugal, but it is a system that has proved to be a real slow-burner in taking off with his new players.

Amorim stressed a couple of times here in the news conference yesterday evening that he is not going to change the formation. He says "the system is not the problem", however, there is no doubt that the manager is now juggling the difficult balance of Manchester United requiring results in the here and now, with the need to look at the bigger picture.

Manchester United

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Let's head to the delightful San Sebastian next and a tough test for Manchester United against Real Sociedad in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte will miss the match after both players were absent from training at Carrington on Wednesday morning and did not travel to Spain.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday evening, Ruben Amorim said: "They are small things, so we are being careful with them because in this moment we cannot allow us to lose more players for a long time."

Amorim is already without several key players for the trip, with Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez among those sidelined.

Jonathon, Barnsley: Re: Tim Krul - that was a Saturday lunchtime against Spurs, Stepan. Brilliant performance. He raked in the fantasy football points that day!

We have a colleague who just loves to hear about teams and players being the best version of themselves against Tottenham. This will make his day...

Back to the Europa League - here's a rundown of tonight's fixtures.

The first legs of all eight round of 16 ties take place this evening.

Of the eight, three involve British sides, with Manchester United, Rangers and Tottenham all in matches away from home later today:

• Real Sociedad v Manchester United (17:45)
• FCSB v Lyon (17:45)
• Fenerbahce v Rangers (17:45)
• AZ Alkmaar v Tottenham (17:45)
• Viktoria Plzen v Lazio (20:00)
• Bodo/Glimt v Olympiacos (20:00)
• Ajax v Eintracht Frankfurt (20:00)
• Roma v Athletic Club (20:00)

We still have Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo to come on, amongst other things, why he believes Matz Sels, rather than Alisson, is the best goalkeeper in the world.

Well he did have to say that, didn't he?

Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has confirmed that defender Axel Tuanzebe will miss the match against Crystal Palace due to a "small muscle injury".

Cameron Burgess awaits an assessment on his injury and could potentially be in contention for Saturday's trip to Sellhurst Park.

Southampton

Back to the present, Southampton manager Ivan Juric said in his news conference that there were no new injuries and that his side were "all good" for their trip to Anfield.

Adam Lallana, James Bree and Kyle Walker-Peters have all been passed fit.

Southampton

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Let's start with Southampton manager Ivan Juric, who refused to answer questions about his future at the club beyond the end of this season: "It's normal for every manager when you have results and everything is good and when you don't have results, you and the club have doubts. It's a normal situation and I'm used to it. For every manager it's nothing special.

On whether he will be in charge next season: "I don't know. Like I said, I live in the moment and I'm thinking about Liverpool, not about what will or will not happen in the future. I can do my job and try to do my best. That's it."

The Europa League and Conference League preview will continue after this short break...for some Premier League team news.

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Tonight, Fenerbahce and Rangers meet for the third time in history.

Their previous two meetings came in a two-legged affair in a third-round qualifier for the 2001-02 Champions League group stage.

The first leg ended in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox before Fenerbahce won the second leg 2-1 in Istanbul.

Manager Barry Ferguson was a Rangers player during those two legs, but missed both matches through injury.

Fenerbahce went on to lose all six matches in the group stage of the Champions League that season, suffering defeats home and away to Barcelona, Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen. They also finished second in the Turkish Super Lig behind Galatasaray.

Meanwhile, Rangers reached the round of 16 of the then Uefa Cup (now Europa League) after wins over Anzhi Makhachkala, Dinamo Moscow and Paris St-Germain in earlier rounds, prior to losing to Feyenoord.

Rangers finished second that year in the Scottish Premier League, but did win the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.